Nasty Ned Fan Club

The MJS's baseball guru, Tom Haudricourt need to zip it. His divine genius tells us that when the Nedster makes the same decisions 2 days in a row, and they pay off on one of those days, no one is yelling. Much like the commentators to his post, I think he is missing the point. Let me explain.....

Every educated fan knows that baseball is a marathon, and not a sprint, to the end of 162 games and 6 months of play, culminating in another possible 19 games. 5 minutes of non intense thought can tell you that you will lose some games, and most of those losses are due to players being unproductive. The managers job is then summed up thusly...Put your players in a position to win, where even if they screw up, they can capitalize on some situation and come back. If the manager cannot do this, he has been unsuccessful. In fact, one could argue that baseball managers, as in all of sport, are "hired to be fired."

That being said, lets look at some examples.....
On Thursday night, Nederino allowed the pitcher, Dave Bush, to hit for himself. Low and behold he got his second hit of the game. This is not bad...yet. The following batter hit a double and Bushy was forced to run a bit. From first to third. Lest we forget, he is a professional athlete. In the end, he was unable to score. So what does our fearless leader do, in a one run ballgame? Pulls Bush and inserts Linebrink. So you allow a pitcher to hit for himself, no problem, but pull him in the next inning? OK, I can sort of live with that, but pulling him because he was gassed, in the parlance of our times, is stupid. Lest we forget he is a professional athlete. At the same time, in a one run ballgame, you remove the best hitter this team has seen since the days of Yount and Molitor, for the 80 year old limp wristed Craig Counsel. In a one run ballgame, in the 7th.......The Hebrew Hammer is bound to get another chance at the bat....but Nednerious is going with his gut. What does the gritty veteran do but strike out looking his first time at the plate but I digress. Linebrink proves ineffective as does Shouse and Turnblow after him. Not Neds fault, everyone has off nights. But the kicker is coming.

In the 9th, Weeks hits the tying homer. What does our fearless leader do in the bottom half? Brings in that monster of Miller Park Way, Chris Spurling. After a runner is allowed to reach base, youngster Mitch Stetter replaces Spurling, no problem. Inning over, crisis averted. In the bottom of the tenth however, Nednanimous brings in Matty Wise. Arguably the worst arm in the bullpen during the second half of the season. Wise promptly walks the first hitter he faces, allows a single, then gives up the game winning run. Is this the players fault? Partly yes because Wise is suck-ass. But Neddy did not put his team in a position to win. In a high pressure situation, with runners on, the teams best pitcher is riding the pine.....To me, thats dirty pool.

Contrast that with last nights game. Down a run in the seventh, with Tim Hudson pitching, Yost pinch hits for Villanueva. To this point, Villy is pitching pretty well, his blemish being a solo homer to Texiera. Well, with a runner on second and down a run, this is a good decision. The pinch hitter, the golden boy Laynce Nix, grounds out to end the inning. This my friends is not the manager's fault. He did in fact put his players in a position to tie or even get ahead. In the bottom half, Nedicus goes once again with Linebrink. Not a bad move as before, since Linebrink hasnt been all that terrible. Linebrink gets out of the inning with 2 runners on. I am surprised Yost did not pull him for human surrender flag Ray King, but once again I digress. In the top of the next, the real golden boy Corey Hart works his magic and the Brewers are ahead. In the bottom, Neddy once again pulls the best hitter the team has and moves Craiggers over. On this night, not a bad move considering the lead and the willingness to protect it. Also on this night, Turnblow comes in and pitches spectacularly. Unlike the night before, all releivers are throwing gas and are effective. Like I said before, everyone can have a bad night, but this is one of the good ones for the pen. Funny how pithing with a lead will do that to you. Anyway, the best pitcher the crew has comes in and locks it down in the ninth.

To sum it all up, and sorry for the long windedness but I am angry. In the first game, there were a lot of terrible mistakes made by the field general, resulting in a loss. In the second, the same decisions were made to a better effect. Granted, there is always more room for error when playing with a lead, but at least there were no "bring in your worst pitcher and see what happens" moments. So I say this to you Mr. Baseball guru......Reacting to in game situations and putting the players, however unproductive, in the best place to win is the managers job. In the first example, this did not happen and in the second, it did. That is why we can blame it on the Manager.

For a much better look, read this if you can still see.